The flexibility to work from home can be great. Over the past few years, many organizations have begun to allow their staff members to work from home or have agile working patterns to suit their needs. With continued advances in technology, including the internet, email, intranets and case management systems it's becoming more and more accessible to allow your staff to work from home.

So, what are the benefits of working from home, and perhaps more importantly, what are the disadvantages of such a setup? Let’s have a look below.

Benefits

No commute (there’s nothing better than rolling out of bed at 8:45 am all ready to log on at 9 am – the joys of a lie in).

Dress code – ultimately, and as long as you’re not skyping, video calling or Facetiming anyone, you can wear what you want!

Do you have children? The drop-off and pick up couldn’t be easier when working from home.

Autonomy – you have to be self-sufficient and for those working from home the autonomy to be trusted to crack on with your job can be a refreshing change.

Appointment? Working from home provides more flexibility when attending appointments such as the dentist or doctors.

When you finish for the day, guess what? You’re already home.

Downsides

You’re the only person around. All day.

You have to be entirely self-motivated. All day.

You miss out on the office banter that stems from working with others.

You can never escape the office and go home because you’re already there.

The boss can't see that you’re working hard or putting in extra hours, so you’re more likely to be judged on the bottom line rather than your work ethic and other intangible factors.

Drinks after work with work colleagues? Not a chance, you’re not there!

My opinion on the matter is quite simple, I enjoy working from home when the need arises: for example, an appointment or technical problems in the office. However, can I see myself sitting in my spare bedroom at my desk working and being as self-disciplined as I am when I go to the office? Absolutely not! At this stage in my career, working from home is not for me. I enjoy working in an office, the sociable aspect, having people by my side to bounce ideas off and those all important beers on a Friday! This may change over time dependent on my circumstances but for now, the office is where I’ll stay.

I work with some fantastic firms in the regions who all implement agile working; whether part-time flexible hours or working from home, they’ve got it all!